<p>I am a prospective student at both of these colleges. As a rowing recruit, it is difficult to get a general feel of life OUTSIDE of purely crew, within the respective schools. What is your opinion on Bates College in terms of overall student body? Hamilton?
I am going to be applying ED1 or ED2 to one of these schools, so within the next two days......</p>
<p>I want a school that has more than "top-notch" academics. What is your take in terms of parties and campus activities? As a male prospect, any comment on the female population of either school? I will have a car on campus and I know Bates charges $500 a term for parking...</p>
<p>It is difficult to get an accurate read, considering many people post to either this site, or college ******* out of disdain for certain schools. I love that Bates is close to Portland, yet the town itself is not the best, and I have never met students from Hamilton... </p>
<p>I’ll leave it to a guy to answer your other questions, :0) , but I can tell you that my son is working hard, but he seems to be having a blast and has already made a ton of friends.</p>
<p>I’d recommend checking out some of the by-students-for-students printed guides (Insiders’ Guide To The Colleges, Student’s Guide To Colleges, etc.) to try to get a more balanced feel than you’ll get from the online websites.</p>
<p>Also, there’s no substitute for an actual campus visit, if you can swing it.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, I’ll summarize the major differences you’ll find in the students guides:
Hamilton: more conservative, more preppy, less structured curriculum
Bates: more liberal, more hippy/outdoorsy-prep, more structured curriculum</p>
<p>Both have a reputation for small classes, excellent academics, and a hard-drinking party scene. Both have mediocre town-gown relations, though Bates seems slightly worse in that respect.</p>
<p>Personally, I’d choose Bates because their rowing program has been going strong under the current coach and the winter term classes look like fun.</p>
Definitely hamilton, Bates is considered the ugly stepsister of Colby and bowdoin! It’s also in a really bad area. I live in maine about 30 minutes from Lewiston and I avoid going there at all costs!